He said fending off the city's speed zone plan took money away from improving boater education or increasing law enforcement on Naples Bay.

"That's the real shame in this," Osborn said.

City Council members braced for a legal fight when they approved the slower speed zones for part of the bay after a series of packed hearings at City Hall.

Supporters said the speed zones were needed for safety, but opponents said the city was only trying to appease waterfront property owners.

Under the city's proposal, boats along a stretch of Port Royal would have been slowed from 30 mph to fully off plane on weekends and holidays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Heading south from there, a weekend and holiday slow-speed zone would have been in effect every day.

Collier County, the Marine Industries Association of Collier County and charter captains and boaters challenged the Conservation Commission's 2005 notice of intent to issue a permit to mark the new zones.

An administrative law judge sided with speed zone opponents, saying the city failed to prove that the speed zones were necessary for boater safety.

The Conservation Commission issued the permit anyway, drawing the appeal.

The appeal court ruled that the agency erred in issuing the permit without an independent determination as to whether the bay is unsafe.

City attorneys filed paperwork to ask for a rehearing; the court rejected the petition.

In a last-ditch effort, city attorneys proposed that the Conservation Commission postpone Wednesday's vote; other parties to the litigation would not agree.

Litigation over the marker permit had kept the speed zones from ever going into effect.

City Attorney Bob Pritt said the city still could appeal Wednesday's decision or file a challenge to the state rule on which the appeal court panel based its ruling.

City Council members gave no indication Wednesday that they are willing to keep up the fight.

"I think it's time to go forward," Councilman John Sorey said.

He said boat traffic on Naples Bay is down, making the safety issue less urgent than it was in 2004.

Barnett said he doesn't see the speed zone issue returning to the city's agenda anytime soon — at least not before his term is up in 2012, he said.

"Nobody has the drive or desire to go through this again," Barnett said.

The Naples speed zone case has spawned a more far-reaching debate about whether the Conservation Commission can second-guess local governments' decisions to enact speed zones.

The Conservation Commission voted Wednesday to ask the state Legislature this spring to clarify the legal question that led to Naples' litigation.

Sorey called it a power grab on the part of the Conservation Commission.